New boundaries announced for several missions

http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/60512/New-boundaries-announced-for-several-missions.html

Published: Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011

Five new missions of the Church are being created in Zambia, Benin, Peru, the Philippines and Mexico, while five missions in Portugal, Switzerland, Canada and the United States are being combined with neighboring missions.

European missions are being closed and consolidated. What once was three missions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland are now one. Obviously the prettiest parts of Europe in one! Portugal's time has come and gone. People in Hartord is either poor or too smart to join. The few in Hartford with income have to support the others. Very draining on the few remaining.

The church leaders are businessmen first, last and always. Always looking for enhanced revenue streams. No or limited additional revenue in Europe, so the cost/benefit analysis tells them reduce effort there.

The challenge they face is that the poorer parts of the world are growing, but generate limited revenue. On the other hand, the salesforce is not compensated, so the cost of obtaining a revenue generating member is limited.

Follow the money.

I would guess it is a whole lot cheaper to have multiple real estates - and the resultant overheads -in Zambia, Peru, etc than in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

There used to be an Amsterdam/Antwerp Netherlands/Belgium mission but it doesn't appear on the list? Is my country finally free from Mormon missionaries?

The Netherlands Amsterdam Mission was consolidated with the Belgium Brussels Mission in 2002.

In 2010, the French-speaking part of Belgium was reassigned to the France Paris Mission. The Netherlands and Flemish Belgium now comprise the Belgium/Netherlands Mission, with headquarters in Leiden, Netherlands.

So in effect, the Belgium Brussels Mission has been discontinued and the pre-2002 Netherlands Amsterdam Mission has been reopened. For now.